AJ Goes to the Dog Park Review

A Completely Absurd, No-Budget Comedy Jam-Packed With Extremely Silly Gags

By: Marc Kozak

AJ Goes to the Dog Park

A Completely Absurd, No-Budget Comedy Jam-Packed With Extremely Silly Gags

By: Marc Kozak

It's always really endearing when a super-indie movie like "AJ Goes to the Dog Park" somehow manages to catch on with audiences. You can feel the joy of its creation in a way that you just don't get with your standard Hollywood blockbuster. Writer/director Toby Jones and lead actor AJ Thompson are clearly just goofing around while a camera happens to be around, and the result is a laugh-a-minute absurdist comedy that feels like a mix between an 80s sitcom and an Adult Swim cartoon. Even if some of the jokes don't land, there's always another one coming up seconds later, and the gleefully stupidity of it all produces a feeling of warmth for everyone involved. The sets are wherever they were allowed to film, the costumes and props are delightfully handmade, and any "effects" are courtesy of animation, aided by Jones' experience on Cartoon Network shows like Regular Show and OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes!

The plot revolves around the relentlessly positive AJ, who couldn't be happier with how his life is going. He enjoys his daily breakfast of buttered cinnamon toast, he refuses promotions from his boss (and dad) so he can keep the same low-stress job, and he has routine dinners with his married best friends. Any deviation from this pleasant routine is unwelcome to AJ, so when he heads to the local dog park with his beloved chihuahuas, Diddy and Biff, he is dismayed to find that the mayor of Fargo, North Dakota (Crystal Cossette Knight) has turned it into a "blog park," where dogs aren't allowed and people sit hunched over computers, apparently blogging. This starts a series of events that completely upends every aspect of AJ's life, and he decides the only way to make things go back to normal is by becoming the new mayor. In order to do so, he must prove he is better than the current mayor at a series of tasks, including fighting, fishing, scrapping, scraping and sapping. AJ doesn't know how to do any of those things, so he sets out to learn these skills with the assistance of a handful of bizarre characters.

" The result is a laugh-a-minute absurdist comedy that feels like a mix between an 80s sitcom and an Adult Swim cartoon. "

The movie operates at a cartoonish level of non-reality, which none of the characters seem to notice. In fact, they are only there to serve AJ's journey; one of the movie's best gags is that his father seems to be just standing around his office doing nothing until AJ comes in to interact with him, shrugging it off as the result of AJ being "the main character." The characters often provide comments about the movie itself, telling the audience that things will get more compelling soon or asking aloud whether or not the second act has gone on too long. A training montage turns into a sexy 80s music video. Side characters tell long stories about their lives with morals that apply directly to AJ's situation, even if he doesn't ever get it. Gags come at a frenzied pace and in a variety of styles, which may be seriously off-putting for some. Many of the jokes are so strained that they aren't really funny, but depending on your sense of humor, that may make them even more funny. Humor is, of course, very subjective; click on the trailer at the top of this review and you'll probably know right away if this is for you or not.

As silly as this all is, the movie actually flirts with some moments of profundity. AJ's do-whatever-it-takes quest to become mayor starts to take over his entire life, as he dedicates his every waking hour to the quest without realizing he has cut his friends (and dogs) out of his life. A fisherman tells the story of being similarly obsessed, to the point where a black void starts to swallow everything outside of his goal. This black void starts to show up on the edges of AJ's antics, until it eventually starts to swallow him whole. The movie eventually explains its message of not taking the people you love for granted in an after-school special kind of way, but some of the void moments are genuinely affecting.

That being said, nothing else about the movie should be taken seriously, as it's all about the goofs. Even at 79 minutes, the story is stretched a bit thin (and the characters will tell you about it), and some of the gags can become repetitive. There's a reason why even the best cartoons are under a half an hour. Still, the laughs come at a good enough pace to keep you invested, and by the time the final act comes around, things abruptly shift into an absolutely wild direction that nothing could possibly prepare you for.

"AJ Goes to the Dog Park" throws a billion things at the wall, and it's easy for forgive Jones and crew for the things that don't stick because their creativity and DYI ethic are incredibly charming. Audiences who enjoyed "Hundreds of Beavers" or slapstick classics like the Marx Brothers or even Looney Toons could do well to check this out.